


arrangement of lies

by orphan_account



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: M/M, Major Character Death...Or not, spy AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-01 14:48:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15145478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The door to Minhyun’s office creaks open, the light falling in to reveal Daniel at his desk. Minhyun sighs, rubs his eyes (Daniel notices how red they are,) and flicks the overhead lights in the room on.“You came straight from the funeral?” Minhyun asks, setting his bag on the floor and flopping onto the couch that’s shoved against the wall next to the desk.“I left early,” Daniel says, fingers tapping on the desk, “do you really think he’s dead?”Minhyun barks a little laugh, “Right to the point, huh?”





	1. living life and killing scars

“Be careful,” Seongwoo mutters over the line, and Daniel drops the phone into the toilet right after, straightening his tie and squaring his shoulders.

The second Daniel steps out of the stall he has to dodge a punch, retaliates by swinging a fist into the man’s stomach, then shoves him backwards into the other two men behind him. They grunt, and the third man pushes the other two off himself before leaping forward to try and tackle Daniel. They stumble further back, Daniel hitting the wall before he elbows the head of the man, who is still gripping his midsection, and then kicks his knee out.

These men are rather sloppy, Daniel thinks, but it’s not a high profile target he’s after anyway, so he’s not too surprised.

Daniel steps over the man he just dropped and blocks a punch from the second man, then he punches him in the face, forcing the second man to step back so he is against the sinks in the bathroom. The first man is back up now, and advances towards Daniel. He meets the first man head on, taking a punch to the face and a punch to the stomach, before Daniel starts really fighting back. He forces the other man into one of the stalls, tripping him to fall onto the toilet, but before he can get much further the second man is grabbing the back of his jacket and tossing him onto the floor.

The first man steps out of the stall and moves forward with the second man, and Daniel gets back on his feet. When they advance together, Daniel ducks the punch from the first man on his left, and tackles the second man on his right. They go down with a thud, and Daniel punches him hard in the jaw, his head bouncing back to hit the floor with a _crack!_ that makes Daniel satisfied enough to stop focusing on this guy.

The first man kicks Daniel’s side, and Daniel goes with the motion, rolling to get some space between them. The third man, who is still on the floor, reaches to grab Daniel, but he gets dealt a kick to the head that snaps his head back and makes him slump.

Daniel lurches towards the first man, and gets ahold of his shoulders so he can use his strength to knock his legs out sideways, and direct his fall to bang his head into the sinks. It works, and Daniel immediately surges back out into the club. They were in the VIP bathroom, and Daniel can see the target all the way across the lounge in a booth. He had been cocky, as Daniel had expected, and only brought two other bodyguards.

The target, Kim Minsuk, is gaining a bit too much power in the Seoul district he works in, interrupting the gangs already there and upsetting the balance. The Agency had worked far too long to put their favored gang in power in South Korea, so this Kim Minsuk was not welcomed.

Daniel wipes his mouth, the punch he had taken hadn’t made him bleed, but his lip felt fat and his cheek was throbbing. Bending, Daniel finally pulls out the small pistol from his ankle holster and makes way across the lounge.

 

 

##

His hotel room is swanky, overlooking a large cross section of Seoul, and Daniel feels a little at home. He’s not from Seoul, but he never works in Korea like this, so it’s probably the closest he’ll ever get. His phone buzzes insistently on the bed, but Daniel would rather ignore it. The earpiece isn’t in his ear either, so it’s no doubt Seongwoo calling, trying to get his attention.

Seongwoo is his handler, all agents had a handler in the Agency. A way of keeping them connected and traceable, a way of keeping them on their leash. Daniel occasionally hates it, occasionally cherishes it. Seongwoo is his friend, for sure, but Daniel could use a little less of him sometimes.

After another five minutes of Daniel ignoring his phone, the phone next to his bed starts ringing. Seongwoo normally isn’t this persistent, which is what eventually prompts Daniel to cross the room and pick up the hotel phone.

Before Daniel even gets a word in Seongwoo says, “Answer your phone,” and hangs up. He should have expected this really, even if the edge in Seongwoo’s voice was one part anger and another part, well, something Daniel couldn’t place. If he was demanding Daniel’s work phone (not a burner,) then it must be something sensitive to the Agency, and not just Seongwoo calling to congratulate him.

The phone on the bed buzzes again, and Daniel finally picks it up and swipes to answer.

“Daniel, Jaehwan is dead.” Seongwoo spits out, his tone too flat for Daniel to pick out what emotions Seongwoo is feeling.

“What?” Daniel questions, the room tilts a bit dangerously, and Daniel drops to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Jaehwan. Is. Dead.” Seongwoo says again, more forcefully, and Daniel goes silent. The tightness in his chest and the quickening of his breath making him feel too close to panic.

After awhile of Daniel forcing himself to calm down, he asks, “Are you joking right now?” and Seongwoo sighs sadly.

“No, I’m not joking,” Seongwoo murmurs, and the way he says it is like he’s apologizing to Daniel, like he’s sorry he delivered this news to him.

“When did you find out? Where? How?” Daniel begins demanding, panic shoved from his chest to be replaced with anger. He stands to pace now, he’s in control. He can handle this. He’s a _secret agent_ who deals in death everyday, this is nothing new, just another death. Yeah, just another death.

Seongwoo’s prolonged silence on the other end of the line makes Daniel’s pacing stutter to a stop, and Seongwoo says, slowly, “They found out last week, he was in Berlin,” and that’s how far Seongwoo gets before Daniel’s interrupting.

“A _week_ _ago_? They found out a _week ago_? And you didn’t think to tell me?” Daniel accuses, the anger he was feeling easily redirecting itself to Seongwoo, of course Seongwoo would withhold this from him, _of course_ he would.

Seongwoo splutters, and snaps back, “You’re on a job! I wasn’t allowed to tell you!”

“Seongwoo!” Daniel yells into the line, and then he huffs and says, “Forget it, he’s dead, whatever, I’m coming back, don’t talk to me.” Viciously hanging up the call, Daniel throws his phone across the room. It clacks against the door to the balcony, and Daniel stares at it, fuming, before marching over to pick it back up.

His fingers are embarrassingly shaky as he types in a familiar number, and Daniel feels pathetic, crouched on the ground and staring at the number he has memorized typed out on his phone screen. When he finally calls it, it goes straight to voicemail. The mechanical voice tells him to leave a message at the tone, and Daniel waits.

“Please call me back,” Daniel pleads into the phone, and then he takes the phone from his ear. It doesn’t make sense, it shouldn’t be real. Daniel is starting to breath too fast, and he searches through his contacts for another number, this time the phone actually rings.

It takes four rings before the phone is picked up, the person on the other end says, “Daniel--” before he gets interrupted.

“Is it true?” Daniel blurts, still crouched near the balcony door, an arm wrapped around his own knees and the phone held shakily near his ear with the other arm.

Minhyun is silent for a second, and then says, “yes,” and he sounds like he’s about to go on, gets barely another sound out before Daniel is hanging up on him.

 

 

##

3 weeks ago

 

Jaehwan is hurriedly stuffing clothes into his bag, avoiding eye contact with Daniel. Daniel is on the bed of the hotel room, arms back to hold him up as he eyes Jaehwan.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Daniel says, and Jaehwan huffs from where he is by the dresser.

“I’m not being ridiculous,” Jaehwan says back, finally turning to look at Daniel. He has a bruise across his cheek, probably from a fist, and his hair is still mussed from the fight he had obviously been in. There’s a patch of blood by the shoulder of his light-blue linen shirt, and he crosses his arms over his chest.

Daniel grumbles and sits up straight, his hands coming up to gesture as he speaks, “I like you. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

Jaehwan leans back onto the dresser and bites his lip, eyes drifting away to focus on the wall over Daniel’s shoulder. Daniel wants him so bad, wants to run his fingers through his hair, wants to kiss the bruise on his cheek, wants to wrap his arms around his small frame, oh, he really has it bad.

“Just,” Jaehwan begins, “we barely get to see each other, you work in country more than I ever have, you don’t work alone as often as I do, I just worry.” That makes Daniel want him in his arms more, but touch has never particularly consoled Jaehwan when he’s worked up, and he knows that Jaehwan is reassured more by words.

Daniel is here because Minhyun had hacked into Daniel and Seongwoo’s line the other day and told him that he thought Jaehwan might be overthinking them, as usual, and that Daniel might want to do something about it. Minhyun isn’t even Jaehwan’s handler anymore, but Jonghyun goes to Minhyun frequently to ask him what Jaehwan means by what he says.

Before he had even boarded his cheap flight to Morocco immediately after he finished his job, Daniel had already figured out what had made Jaehwan get shifty. Hyunbin admitted to speaking to Jaehwan recently. The only people who knew about the nature of Daniel and Jaehwan’s relationship were their handlers, and Hyunbin had gleefully spilled the details of his latest job to Jaehwan. The job that was a joint mission between Daniel, him, and Sungwoon.

At one point in the mission, yes, Sungwoon had certainly planted a sloppy kiss on Daniel’s lips, and Daniel had slid an arm around his waist and yanked him closer, but they were doing it to avoid detection. Daniel doesn’t make a habit of kissing his coworkers, at least not ones that weren’t Jaehwan.

“Jaehwan,” Daniel sighs, and he rubs his face with his hands, “I choose you, no matter what I have to do on any job, none of it means anything except for when I do it with you.” He had even wiped his mouth obnoxiously and fake gagged after the kiss, which had been more of two faces smashed together than any real kiss.

Daniel continues, “You shouldn’t listen to what people say about me, you know they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“You’re right,” but Jaehwan says it so reluctantly that Daniel thinks there is something more there, “but...” Jaehwan drifts off uncomfortably, and there’s real tension in his body now, and he’s avoiding Daniel’s eyes even more.

“What?” Daniel prompts, wanting to get to the bottom of whatever it is that’s keeping Jaehwan across the room from him.

“I know Seongwoo doesn’t approve,” Jaehwan says, his shoulders defensively high, and Daniel rolls his eyes.

“What does that matter? He’s loyal to me, he would have reported us already if he wasn’t,” Daniel reassures, hands gesturing for Jaehwan to come closer.

Jaehwan steps over to him, close enough for Daniel to place his hands on his hips. “No,” he mutters, “he called me and told me he disapproved, and that I need to stay away. He told me that you do this to everyone, that you let adrenaline get the best of you.”

Daniel rolls his eyes again, and gives Jaehwan a tug, the other man obliges and straddles Daniel’s thighs, his arms wrapping loosely around Daniel’s neck.

“It’s been seven months, Jaehwan,” Daniel soothes. “If I wanted a simple fuck I would have stopped six months ago,” he puckers his lips hopefully, and Jaehwan rolls his eyes at him now, before leaning in to give him a peck.

“Is this a good idea, though?” Jaehwan whispers, and Daniel narrows his eyes at him.

“Stop letting what Seongwoo says get into your head, he’s just trying to scare you off from what he thinks should be his spot in my life,” Daniel says firmly, rolling them so he can press Jaehwan into the bed.

Daniel is taller and wider than Jaehwan, and he finds it incredibly endearing that Jaehwan is so deceptively small.

“He’ll get over it, he’s a good guy, he just needs to pout about it for a bit,” Daniel continues, leaning and pressing kisses to Jaehwan’s face, Jaehwan squirms under him but doesn’t move his head away.

They’re in the middle of a particularly deep kiss when Jaehwan’s phone rings loudly from the bedside table. Jaehwan slaps his hand onto to it, barely pulling away from Daniel before answering. Daniel can hear Jonghyun’s lecturing tone and Jaehwan looks appropriately scolded.

“I need to go,” Jaehwan says sadly, one hand twisted into Daniel’s faded pink hair. Jaehwan is on a tighter schedule than Daniel, he’s the Agency’s best provocateur, which puts him in high demand.

Daniel sighs and presses another kiss to Jaehwan’s mouth before letting him up.

 

 

##

The door to Minhyun’s office creaks open, the light falling in to reveal Daniel at his desk. Minhyun sighs, rubs his eyes (Daniel notices how red they are,) and flicks the overhead lights in the room on.

“You came straight from the funeral?” Minhyun asks, setting his bag on the floor and flopping onto the couch that’s shoved against the wall next to the desk. He had to move into this smaller office when they took him off Jaehwan, now he just does consulting for other handlers. The side of the desk and the couch nearly touch, only enough space to squeeze by.

“I left early,” Daniel says, fingers tapping on the desk, “do you really think he’s dead?”

Minhyun barks a little laugh, “Right to the point, huh?”

Daniel narrows his eyes at the other man, and feels a little bad about it, but he can’t joke right now. He tries to remind himself that Minhyun had been Jaehwan’s handler for nearly the entire time he was here, that they had been just as close as Daniel and Seongwoo were. He just lost someone important to him, also.

Minhyun hums and tips his head back to stare at the ceiling, “It’s suspicious,” he mutters, “there was no real body, just ash when someone got there, but the photos...”

“Photos can be faked,” Daniel bursts, arms waving a little crazily.

Daniel had seen the photos, the bruises all over Jaehwan’s body, the busted lip and black eyes, the blood, the skin carved away on his back. He can’t think about it anymore, he’ll vomit up whatever is left of his breakfast, he’d already gotten sick on the way back from the funeral.

“Yes,” Minhyun obliges, “but what else do we have to believe?” He’s right, Minhyun is somehow always right, but it still doesn’t make Daniel feel much different.

Slumping in Minhyun’s chair, Daniel stares sullenly at the ground, he just needs a little more time, then he can get over this.

“Daniel,” Minhyun says, “they’re putting you on the job to find out what happened.”

Daniel nods, he knew this already, Seongwoo had told him before the funeral.

“You know him,” Minhyun points at him, and opens his mouth to continue, but then Seongwoo is at the doorway, clearing his throat loudly.

“You need to get going, Daniel,” Seongwoo says, he’s standing rather stiffly, and only looking at Daniel. Minhyun and Seongwoo are awkward with each other. Have been since Daniel and Jaehwan had started seeing each other, since Minhyun enabled it and Seongwoo actively tried to obstruct it. Daniel wants to know what Minhyun was going to say to him, but he’s drawn back now, tight-lipped.

“Good luck,” Minhyun offers instead, “you have my number if you need me.” That’s a dismissal, and Daniel finally stands from the chair and slides by to get to the door. He throws one look back at Minhyun and sees him looking at the picture of Jaehwan on his desk. That’s a bit too much for Daniel to handle, and he speed walks passed Seongwoo to get out of range of Minhyun’s office.

 

 

##

He’s getting briefed by Seongwoo, rather frustratingly, on what is expected of him.

He is to go to Berlin and trace Jaehwan’s last steps. Figure out what happened, figure out who got him, and if possible bring anything of his back. It’s been nearly two weeks since his death, so the trail is going to be cold, but they have faith in Daniel. He thinks it’s cruel that he’s been selected for this job, but it makes sense. They don’t know the nature of his relationship with Jaehwan. They just know he is one of the best of the best in the Agency.

Jaehwan was in high demand, of course after he’s so brutally murdered they send their best to investigate.

“Upper management thinks there might be someone leaking our information,” Seongwoo says, “that Jaehwan fell victim to it.” That could be, Daniel can’t see any other way that Jaehwan would have slipped up enough to get killed. He’d have to prove it though, and that will take time. Time to find the person who is leaking, what they’re leaking, find the connection between Jaehwan’s death and the leaker.

“Do we have anything to go off of?” Daniel asks, thumbing through the files in his lap. They don’t offer much, just Jaehwan’s hotel room and the contacts he had been in touch with while in Berlin.

Seongwoo shrugs, “That’s pretty much all, Jonghyun said Jaehwan was still pulling his silent treatment act.” Daniel can detect the sneer in Seongwoo’s voice, but he chooses to ignore. Chooses to not start anything.

Something had been up with Jaehwan, Daniel still doesn’t understand why Minhyun got switched off of him and Jonghyun switched in. Still didn’t understand why Jaehwan was so insistently refusing to maintain good contact with Jonghyun. Minhyun and Jonghyun had both agreed that it was because Jaehwan was mad that the higher-ups had taken Minhyun off as his handler.

Seongwoo would never trust Jaehwan. He still insisted that he must have been up to no good if he was so constantly off the grid, but Daniel had been around unexpectedly multiple times and never caught Jaehwan doing anything. Minhyun had been adamant that Jaehwan was just being annoying because he was mad. Daniel had asked Jaehwan why he did it, and had just gotten a shrug and a “ _makes me feel alive,_ ” which Daniel was half-certain was a joke.

Jaehwan going off the grid just meant it would be much, much harder for Daniel to piece his final days together. It made his head hurt a little, thinking of everything he would have to do.

“The Agency has kept up Jaehwan’s hotel room, the staff have said no one has gone in and out of it since the last time Jaehwan was there.” Seongwoo continues, handing over another file of plane tickets, identity cards, and the hotel information. This was Daniel’s file to get into Berlin.

Seongwoo dismisses him later, and Daniel makes the trek back to his apartment. There is some work that needs to be done before he even gets into Berlin, and it’s making his head hurt. This is a high profile case, he can’t afford to slip up. The upper management will surely be monitoring his results and actually reading Seongwoo’s reports.

Daniel is sat on the floor next to his end table when his personal phone buzzes. He contemplates ignoring it, but picks it up before it can go to voicemail.

Jonghyun’s light voice makes Daniel wake up a little, “Hey, Daniel, it’s Jonghyun.”

“Hey, Jonghyun,” Daniel says, leaning back against his couch. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Jonghyun says slowly, “I just wanted to touch base with you.”

That’s strange, Daniel already has Jonghyun’s reports (depressingly vague and empty,) and already has all of Jaehwan’s information. “OK,” Daniel says back, drifting off to let Jonghyun fill in the rest.

“There’s some...things I might have glossed over in the reports,” Jonghyun rushes out, and Daniel is immediately grabbing his pen and pulling the reports closer to him.

“Jaehwan was frequently going off the grid, as usual, but on January 3rd I hacked into cameras in the hotel because Jaehwan had missed his nightly check in the night before.” Jonghyun pauses, and Daniel can hear him tapping a pen against a desk. “Well, he was fine then, but when he left his room and the hotel he definitely brush passed with someone.”

Daniel frowns, “Someone? Who?”

“I’m not sure, even Minhyun didn’t know who it was. All Jaehwan seemed to get from it was a piece of paper, and then he disappeared later that day. The other man also disappeared, I haven’t been able to find him again.”

“Is he in the file somewhere?” Daniel asks, trying to wrap his head around this.

“No,” Jonghyun answers, “I’ve sent you pictures of him through the mail, they should arrive in Berlin around the time you do.”

“Why’d you not mention this in the report?” Daniel asks curiously, why were they keeping this under wraps?

“Think, Daniel,” Jonghyun retorts. “How do you think it would look if Jaehwan was bucking me and doing brush passes with unknown men and disappearing? When I wrote that report I didn’t even know he was gone for good.”

Jonghyun blows out a long breath into the receiver, “The information would have never helped us, anyway, because no one knows who the man is. I’m telling you now because you’re on the detail to get some retribution for Jaehwan. Jaehwan’s last known contact was with Lee Daehwi, so I’d start there.”

“Thanks, Jonghyun,” Daniel says, and then adds more quietly, “for everything.”

“Just do what you have to do, Daniel,” Jonghyun says before hanging up, and Daniel doesn’t feel much better at all, again.

 

 

##

Berlin is cold in January, snow dusting the city and bringing some brightness to the general grey of the city. Daniel is keying open the room to Jaehwan’s room, it’s in an unassuming hotel on the east side of Berlin. The room looks untouched, the bed is made and the lights are all off. The hotel staff had assured Daniel that no one had entered the room, and this was making Daniel’s nerves feel jangly.

Jaehwan had been messy. His sheets were never fully on the bed, his clothes were frequently tossed around the room, his equipment was spread out on any clear spot.

This room was too clean. The floor was spotless, the sheets were all properly tucked in, the pillows were in their spots. Daniel finally finds the mess when he opens the bathroom door, Jaehwan’s suitcase is there and his guns are on the counter. Clothes looked like they had exploded from the suitcase, spread out haphazardly on the floor. This is strange, Jaehwan containing his mess like this, but it isn’t so strikingly out of character to make Daniel think someone else did it. Daniel takes some photos of the room to send to Seongwoo, and starts opening drawers.

For the most part, the room is empty. Nothing of note to give Daniel any real pause. It makes him wonder why Jaehwan would clean the room like this. Why he would take the time to pull the sheets up and make the pillows look nice. Pulling the sheets back don’t even reveal anything, just a slightly rumpled bed.

Ducking to look under the bed, Daniel finds Jaehwan’s handler equipment. The earpiece is slightly mauled, probably Jaehwan getting annoyed with it, and the tracking devices are all safely put away in their containers. Daniel also pulls out Jaehwan’s files and research, Jaehwan was a good researcher, and his files were always incredibly thick. Especially compared to Daniel’s measly files. It doesn’t make sense, though, that in Jaehwan’s notes he seems to have done very little while here.

In Jonghyun’s reports, Jaehwan had been here for nearly a week before he disappeared. He had been regularly leaving his trackers and earpiece and personal phone at the hotel, but when reporting back to Jonghyun at the end of the day had seemed to be getting close to finishing the job. The notes on these files show no progress. No leads have been crossed out, no follow-ups have been followed up on. Jaehwan was only organized about two things, his files and his notes. Never has Daniel seen notes so incomplete by Jaehwan.

Daniel takes photos of the files and notes, and then does some more snooping. He finds Jaehwan’s personal phone on the balcony of the room, set in the middle of the tiny table out there. Daniel sits down in the chair and turns the phone on, feeling his heart freeze a little as the phone slowly loads up.

The phone plays a pleasant little jingle before fully turning on, and Daniel watches it load Jaehwan’s multiple missed calls. Tapping in the password (Daniel knew Jaehwan’s password, Jaehwan knew Daniel’s password,) Daniel scrolls through Jaehwan’s messages. They don’t give him much. The call log is mainly calls from Daniel, calls to Jonghyun, and calls between Jaehwan and Minhyun. Some spatterings of Hyunbin and Seongwoo and other Agency members are further back in the call log. His messages are similar, mainly Jonghyun angrily demanding that Jaehwan stop bucking him and Minhyun scolding Jaehwan.

All the messages are appropriately vague, no in-depth conversations allowed through text, and Daniel concludes that the phone is a bust. He takes some time out on the balcony, watches his breath in the cold and tries to shake himself more into an investigative mindset.

So far, Daniel has nothing. Jaehwan was peculiarly eccentric this trip, but that’s also just how Jaehwan was like sometimes. He was allegedly making progress, but not taking down notes for his report at the end of the job and not keeping his files updated. That’s not like him at all, and makes Daniel think that Jaehwan might have known he wasn’t safe. Maybe he knew there was a double agent leaking and was keeping information to himself. His personal physical files were often shared between him and his handler, but there was no reason for him to believe Jonghyun was the double agent.

Or, maybe there was? That would explain his reluctance to rely on Jonghyun, but Daniel cannot imagine what would have lead Jaehwan to believe Jonghyun was the double agent. In Jonghyun’s reports he had mentioned that Jaehwan was not interested in maintaining their files and that he was confident that everything was going fine.

Jaehwan had been in Berlin to stir up trouble in a political party. He was meant to get them entangled in scandals so the Agency would be able to bribe the politician into doing what they want. It was a rather simple job, actually, one Jaehwan should have had no problem doing. He’s certainly infiltrated harder places in shorter amounts of time, but as far as Daniel can tell, he simply hadn’t been doing that. The only files Jaehwan had here are ones relevant to this job, so Daniel can’t even theorize on if he was doing something else while here.

Daniel manages to find Jaehwan’s laptop, it was under the suitcase in the bathroom, and turns it on. It’s completely clean, as expected. Jaehwan has notifications on it of missed video calls from Jonghyun, but nothing else out of the ordinary. The history is empty on all of the browsers, and there is nothing beyond programs downloaded onto the laptop. This is normal protocol, and Daniel is almost frustrated at how none of this is _really_ out of ordinary.

Rationally, there is a reason for everything in the room to be the way it was. Jaehwan might have been tired of having a messy room, Jaehwan might have been annoyed that the Agency had switched his handlers still, Jaehwan might have been so on top of things that he didn’t need to keep notes, and so on and so forth. Besides how wrong it feels, there is nothing here for Daniel to get a lead from. Daniel knew Jaehwan, knows that he doesn’t get frustrated with clutter, knows that Jaehwan was rather fond of Jonghyun, knows that Jaehwan never gets overly cocky enough to not keep detailed records.

But, there is no way for him to have a reason to insist those things mean anything here. Jaehwan was, for the most part, playing by the rules. Just because Daniel knows Jaehwan was obsessively organized about records doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have slacked this one time. Daniel doesn’t even know what it implies that Jaehwan hadn’t been keeping his notes. The double agent thing makes sense, but it’s not like anyone besides Jonghyun and upper management would ever see his files and notes.

Jaehwan has no reason to shove everything into the bathroom, the cleaning staff knows to not come in, Jonghyun confirmed that Jaehwan had never brought anyone up to the room, and there’s nothing else that could have happened to make Jaehwan clean the room. Maybe he was worried someone was going to come in, maybe Daniel?, and he wanted to be presentable, or at least have things hidden, but that doesn’t make sense either.

Daniel finally leaves the hotel room three hours after stepping foot in it, and he doesn’t feel like he’s getting any closer to some sort of closure. Now, he’s even more confused than he was originally. He takes Jaehwan’s files with him, thinks about backtracking through Jaehwan’s progress and see what the people he’s had contact with say about him.

Seongwoo calls him two hours later, while Daniel is writing up his plan for the next two days.

“How did the room look?” He asks placidly, Daniel knows Seongwoo is still wary of him since his outburst, but they’ll get by it. Daniel isn’t even that mad anymore, Seongwoo is annoying at the best of times, but he always means well. Daniel can’t quite ever make himself hate the other man.

“I’m going to send you pictures later,” Daniel says, and then he yanks his laptop out and boots it up. “Continue this over video?”

Most handlers and agents use video calls, they’re typically done through the much more secure laptops the agents and handlers have and also allows the handler visual confirmation that the agent is doing OK.

Seongwoo’s name pops up on the laptop, and Daniel enters the call.

“I haven’t really found anything,” Daniel says, doodling on the paper in front of him.

Seongwoo frowns, but nods. “You’re barely even a day in, you weren’t going to get a breakthrough yet.”

“Yeah, but I thought I would get something,” Daniel whines, “I only have more questions now.”

Seongwoo makes a noise that prompts Daniel to keep going, though Seongwoo is obviously doing work on his computer at the same time.

“His hotel room wasn’t what I thought it would be like, the whole place was like he was trying to hide things.” Daniel says, looking over his plan.

“It came off like he didn’t trust Jonghyun,” Daniel mutters, “but I know he did, so who was he hiding things from?”

Seongwoo moves his attention back to Daniel at that, narrowing his eyes at his webcam. “What makes you so sure he trusted Jonghyun?”

“Just because he was difficult doesn’t mean he didn’t trust him,” Daniel insists. “Jaehwan told me that he trusted Jonghyun because Minhyun trusted him.”

“Why would he be difficult then?” Seongwoo asks, and he isn’t trying to be rude, he’s mainly just being a soundboard for Daniel. Most handlers are good for their agents because they provide someone they can bounce ideas off of.

“Because he was trying to show disdain for what the higher-ups did by moving Minhyun off him,” Daniel says, confident, because that’s what Jaehwan told him.

“So who was he hiding from if not Jonghyun?” Seongwoo follows up with, and Daniel frowns down at his paper.

“The Agency?”

 

 

##

Daniel goes the next day and picks up the pictures Jonghyun sent. They’re pretty shitty quality, but it’s better than nothing. The man has his face angled just enough that none of the pictures gets his full face, and it’s incredibly blurry, but Daniel can work with this. The man’s hair is a deep, unnatural red so it’s at least something different from a normal color.

His gameplan for today was to go to Jaehwan’s Berlin haunts and ask around about him and the man in the picture. The hotel staff hadn’t know the man, and he had really only come in to brush pass Jaehwan and then left so it makes sense.

Jaehwan had been infiltrating the political party’s office as an intern, and when Daniel shows up there most of the people say they hadn’t really known him, just that he was a foreigner who was eager to help. That sounds a lot like Jaehwan, which eases the anxiety in Daniel’s chest. Jaehwan really was doing things here, not just doing nothing or sneaking around. None of the staffers can say anything more about him, he didn’t really hang out with them or talk with them. They also don’t know anything about the man in the picture, they apparently never saw Jaehwan with anyone else.

With those two places a bust, Daniel is a bit lost. Seongwoo was supposed to be going through footage to find where Jaehwan would go after leaving the hotel, but Jaehwan was always too good at blending in with crowds and getting out of camera views. Berlin is too big for them to watch every video from every camera, but they just need something at this point. Daniel wanders around, sometimes asking random people if they knew who was in the photo, coming back with nothing each time.

Eventually, Daniel ends up back at the hotel, ends up back in Jaehwan’s room. He sorts through the clothing in the bathroom, everything normal and fine there, and gathers up the guns. Each gun is unloaded and cleaned, and all the rounds are stashed under the sink. That was typical Jaehwan, he didn’t like using guns like Daniel did, found them too loud and too hard to hide.

The hotel room, with Jaehwan’s clothes(that still smell like his detergent and _him_ ), becomes too overwhelming for Daniel. He stumbles out of the bathroom (some of the empty guns clattering noisily to the floor) and has to stand on the balcony. The cold wind chaps his lips and smacks at his face, and he’s gasping, fingers clawing at his own collar. The wind dries the tears that drip from his eyes, but Daniel has to lean over the balcony and count his breathing to get himself under control.

Daniel hasn’t truly processed what’s happened. Logically, he knows Jaehwan is dead, but in his head he still feels like Jaehwan is about to show up at his doorstep and wedge himself playfully into his life again. It hurts, Daniel realizes, realizes how much tension he’s holding because he won’t calm down. Daniel had _loved_ Jaehwan, he’s sure of it, had never said anything because how can you tell another espionage agent that you love them? Jaehwan had never said anything of the like to him, but Daniel feels regret. Feels like he should have told Jaehwan. Like maybe Jaehwan’s last few hours (likely tortured few _days_ , if the photos mean anything) would have been more bearable if Daniel had said “ _I love you_ ” once to him.

An hour passes, Daniel dangerously numb on that balcony. He thinks about how maybe he never really knew Jaehwan, maybe Jaehwan had never cared that much, but he had to have. It’s not Jaehwan’s fault he’s dead, well, Daniel can’t say it is. Surely, Jaehwan never intended to die. Daniel’s shivering once he finally steps back into the hotel room, and the room is chilly because Daniel had never bothered to shut the balcony when he forced himself outside.

And really, Daniel hadn’t been able to grieve. Not the way he needed to. He was informed a week late of Jaehwan’s death, and then a few days later he was at a funeral with no body, and then the next day he was in Jaehwan’s hotel room. The flight back to the Agency, headquartered in Toronto, had been emotional. Daniel nearly drank himself into a stupor on that flight, the flight attendants had to cut him off. At least he hadn’t cried then, he only cried when Minhyun met him at the airport. Seongwoo was supposed to, but Daniel supposes that Minhyun took over after Daniel had yelled at Seongwoo that night.

Seeing Minhyun at the airport had driven things a little too far home, and Minhyun had to stumble back to the car with Daniel crying on him. The next day he had to write his job report and be in the Agency, he couldn’t be so emotional there or risk outing what he and Jaehwan had had. Friendship is normal there, yes, but even Jaehwan’s other friends weren’t crying. Daniel had to force back his emotions and pretend like he wasn’t as devastated as he had been. He’s been near mechanical since then, going through the motions and trying not to feel anything.

The walk back to his own hotel in Berlin sobers him a little, makes him calm down and start thinking again. He can do this, he can figure out what happened to Jaehwan and get some closure. He was sure of it.

It’s around 3pm when Daniel gets back to his hotel room. He knows Seongwoo is tracking him, but he’s been silent over the earpiece, so he must have nothing to say.

Daniel has no other leads today, can only flop onto the bed and try to sleep. Tomorrow, Seongwoo had managed to get Lee Daehwi to speak with Daniel, but that was all he had. He felt tired, the world too heavy on his shoulders, and he thinks about calling Minhyun. Minhyun loved Jaehwan also, they were best friends, like how Daniel loves Seongwoo, but Daniel feels bad dragging Minhyun down with him so he just stays where he is.


	2. confide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They sit in silence together for another few minutes, Jaehwan busying himself with people watching and Daniel watching Jaehwan. When Jaehwan turns back, he catches Daniel’s stare and his lips pull back into a smile.
> 
> Jaehwan taunts, “No need to stare so hard, Kang Daniel, it’s not like I’ll disappear.”

Lee Daehwi has impeccable sense, or at least he has an unfortunate way of selecting places for meetings.

The cafe tucked deep in the west side of Berlin is too small for many, and Daniel is huddled in one of the chairs outside. Daehwi had said to meet him here an hour ago, and only Daniel had shown up on time. It’s no real surprise, Daehwi is a very busy man and Seongwoo had to beg for awhile to get him to put Daniel in his schedule. That’s annoying, because Daniel knows that Daehwi had dropped everything the second Jaehwan had asked to speak to him, but Daniel supposes there is something he doesn’t know there.

Sinking further into his thick, grey coat, Daniel glares out across the street. He would leave, but Daehwi is the last person to speak to Jaehwan and Daniel needs some clues.

As a freelance operative, Daehwi is not bound by any company the way Daniel is. He takes jobs from anyone, even companies like the Agency, and does a bit of everything. This alone makes him one of the biggest intelligence agents around. Jaehwan and Daehwi go very far back, something to do with the Agency that Daniel doesn’t have the full details to. It’s annoying, a little, that Daniel doesn’t know everything, but he supposes he can ask Daehwi now, whenever he shows up.

The wind is making the snow blow directly into Daniel’s face, but it’s the only thing keeping him awake, so it’s not the worst. He had been up late the night before, trying to find the calling cards of any Berlin or Germany-based gangs to see if any of them matched the marks on Jaehwan’s back in the photos. Spending so long staring at those pictures had made Daniel’s resulting sleep a little too nightmarish and dreadful, and he hadn’t even found any gang that left marks like that.

Seongwoo had scolded him throughout the night, told him he ought to just ask Daehwi tomorrow. He didn’t really understand though, Daniel needed to feel like he was finding something, like he was getting someplace. Spinning his tires uselessly in the dirt for two days was making him feel like he was going crazy, being put on this right away couldn’t have been the best thing for him and he’s starting to see the effects.

No real progress had been made, Seongwoo couldn’t stop losing Jaehwan in the depths of Berlin and Daniel wasn’t any closer to understanding Jaehwan’s activities before his disappearance.

It’s another twenty minutes before Daniel spots Daehwi turn the corner onto the street the cafe is on. He stands immediately to greet the younger man, and Daehwi smiles sadly back at him.

“Seongwoo told me,” Daehwi starts with, drawing Daniel into a (rather stiff) hug and patting his shoulder. “Sorry for your loss, he was a great man.”

Daniel nods, and gestures to the cafe. Daehwi shakes his head and sits in one of the chairs outside. He has a white scarf wrapped around his neck that he tugs up to cover half of his face. A similarly white hat is stuffed on his head with flaps covering his ears. His white coat is even puffier than Daniel’s, and he doesn’t look like he’s feeling the cold as much as Daniel.

Sitting across from Daehwi, Daniel sucks in a breath to begin the questioning.

 

_##_

_14 months ago_

 

France isn’t that cold in October, Daniel discovers.

The Agency has just hired him, immediately sent him to assassinate a rich Frenchman. The job had been easy, took him only a day, and now he was lounging at a cafe in Lyon. The sun felt good on his skin, the day cool enough to make Daniel not sweat that bad. It was nice, Daniel could get used to this kind of thing.

He figures the Agency was testing him, he had come from his last company with rave reviews and a nearly unrivaled 95% success rate and they needed to see if he was the real deal. He had ditched his earpiece and cell phone at the hotel, he didn’t need to be back in Toronto yet, and he was determined to enjoy some free time before he had to get back into the thick of things.

The chair across from him clatters loudly on the cobble, making Daniel jump and snap to attention. A small-boned guy was sat across from him. Pointy ears sat underneath a poorly done bleach job of hair, his face was doughy and his jaw was rounded. Daniel actually knows who this is, had seen his face when Minhyun had shown him a picture of his agent. He was one of the few agents Daniel knew of, and his infamy had made him seem like a much bigger man than he really is.

“Hi, Kang Daniel,” Jaehwan says, a smile pulling the edges of his lips up.

“Hey, Kim Jaehwan,” Daniel says back, still sitting rather stiffly in his chair.

“Seongwoo asked Minhyun to ask me to ask you to please, please respond to his calls,” Jaehwan yawns, slumping back in the chair and putting his feet onto the seat next to him.

Daniel hadn’t known Jaehwan was also in Lyon, thinks maybe he had been put here for a reason.

Jaehwan scrutinizes Daniel for a second, mouth pinched and eyes narrowed.

“No need to be so stiff, you know, we’re coworkers now,” Jaehwan coaxes, waving a hand slightly at Daniel’s whole person.

“What are you doing in Lyon?” Daniel asks instead of engaging in Jaehwan’s conversation.

Jaehwan shrugs and lolls his head to the side to look down the road. “Who do you think got you your opening?”

And, oh, that makes sense. It had been awfully convenient that there had been such a commotion at the front of the Frenchman’s property. Seongwoo hadn’t said anything about it though, so Daniel had just accepted it as a coincidence.

“Oh,” Daniel says, “you’re good.”

Jaehwan laughs then, eyes scrunching cutely, (Daniel thinks his laugh is weird, but in an endearing way,) “Thank you, right back at you.”

Daniel finally slumps back into his seat, still looking at Jaehwan, but no longer holding himself ready to fight.

They sit in silence together for another few minutes, Jaehwan busying himself with people watching and Daniel watching Jaehwan. When Jaehwan turns back, he catches Daniel’s stare and his lips pull back into a smile.

Jaehwan taunts, “No need to stare so hard, Kang Daniel, it’s not like I’ll disappear.”

 

 

_##_

“Do you know what Jaehwan was doing in Berlin?” Daniel begins, figures he should know where they are.

Daehwi taps a finger to his chin, contemplating, “In general, yes.”

“In general?” Daniel follows up, folding his hands into lap.

“I know what he does for your company,” Daehwi says, shrugging.

“And he came to talk to you,” Daniel says back, trying to get Daehwi to tell him what he wants.

“Yes,” Daewhi confirms, and then raises his eyebrows at Daniel. He was going to make him work for this, and that was riling Daniel up a little. Seongwoo hums comfortingly through the earpiece, and Daniel blows a slow breath out.

“About?” Daehwi shifts a bit uncomfortably at this question, his arms coming up to fold over his chest.

“He came to see me a couple different times,” Daehwi starts, “each time was about something different.”

Daehwi goes silent again then, and Daniel gestures a little with his hand. “And?”

Daehwi shrugs, lets his gaze drift to the left of Daniel. “Do you have something specific you want to know?”

“I want to know what you talked about,” Daniel snaps, and then sighs and rubs his face.

“Try again,” Daehwi says, and Daniel sighs again and pops open the pocket on his jacket and unfolds one of the pictures of Jaehwan.

“Do you know who would leave these marks?” Daniel asks, watching how Daehwi doesn’t even flinch at the photo.

Daehwi smooths the photo out and looks at it for a second, then pushes it back towards Daniel.

“The marks aren’t particularly recognizable, but this kind of tactic is,” Daehwi gives Daniel. “I’d say your best bet is Kim Donghyun, these people are contract killers and he would know how to find them.”

Daniel nods and folds the picture back up into his pocket, then unfolds the picture of the man from the hotel and slides that in front of him also.

Daehwi frowns at this picture, “Where’d you get this?”

Daniel doesn’t answer, just pushes the photo a little closer.

“Find Kim Donghyun first, then ask him about this man also, OK?” Daehwi says, standing up and shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat.

“That’s it?” Daniel demands, standing up also.

“Don’t be like that,” Daehwi lifts a shoulder dismissively at him. “I’ll send Seongwoo Donghyun’s number.”

Daehwi is in the middle of taking his first steps away when he stops and turns slightly towards Daniel, “Jaehwan would want you to be happy,” and then he walks off.

Daniel feels off kilter, obviously Daehwi is trying to hint that he knows more about him and Jaehwan than he let on. But Jaehwan had been fine telling Daehwi? Had never bothered to tell Daniel that Daehwi possessed that kind of information about them?

He stumbles all the way back to his east Berlin hotel, Seongwoo puttering in his ear like a worried housewife. It makes him pissy, on top of the slight panic crawling up his throat. Daniel snaps, “give me an hour,” and then yanks the earpiece from his ear and flops face first onto his bed. He just needs a moment to collect himself, really. Daehwi was keeping things from Daniel, but he still had given Daniel a bigger lead than he’s otherwise found.

To be honest, Daniel hadn’t thought far enough ahead of what to do when he finds the group that mauled Jaehwan. Killing has never been something Daniel couldn’t do, but he hasn’t thought of the best way to dispatch these guys. Maybe something to do with torture, like what they did to Jaehwan, but Daniel doesn’t have many ideas in his head. He could probably just turn them in to the company, but he kind of wants the glory to himself.

Minhyun could want a part of it, maybe Daniel would hold them until Minhyun could get to where they are. It’s not like the consulting was really keeping Minhyun’s attention anyway, and he would probably relish another chance in the field.

This Kim Donghyun better lead Daniel to what he wants, because he doesn’t know how much longer he can last with the dead ends and elusiveness.

 

 

_##_

Daniel wakes up to his phone ringing, the clock by the bed tells him it’s been about an hour since he remembers being awake. Seongwoo is nothing if not punctual, and Daniel groans and leans over the bed to grab the small earpiece he had thrown earlier. Sticking it back in his ear, Daniel mumbles a, “go ahead” into the pillow and waits for Seongwoo to answer.

The ringing cuts off then, and Daniel can hear the clatter of Seongwoo’s phone being set down through the earpiece.

“Daehwi sent me Donghyun’s number, I’ve already called and you’re meeting him tonight.” Seongwoo says.

“When?”

“Around 11,” Seongwoo answers, “what was the second thing you showed Daehwi?”

Of course Seongwoo would have picked up on Daniel showing something else, would have noticed Daehwi’s obvious surprise at it.

Daniel has to decide now, what he wants Seongwoo to know. Jonghyun and Minhyun had obviously wanted to keep Jaehwan’s most suspicious of on-goings quiet, but Jaehwan is dead now. Whatever tarnishing this last piece information can do to him in Seongwoo’s eyes will never be felt by him, and Seongwoo does have some respect for the dead. Especially after Daniel’s downright depressing check-in the night before, when he had listened blankly to Seongwoo read back his report for the day.

Seongwoo is perceptive, mainly when it comes to Daniel, but of other people as well. He could tell that last night Daniel just needed time and needed someone to ground him. So, he had said, “listen to my report and tell me if there are mistakes,” and had let Daniel do nothing for the night. Really, all he needed was someone’s presence, someone there who wasn’t so keyed up emotionally. And then today, he could tell that Daehwi’s, “where did you get this?” had been surprised and had thrown the other man off a bit.

That still needed some processing. Maybe that man works with Daehwi, or maybe he’s someone high up in Daehwi’s contact list. More likely, Daehwi had a hand in whatever that man gave Jaehwan. He had obviously been reluctant to give more information, and the inclusion of Kim Donghyun makes Daniel think he’s walking into a very complex web of connections. How Jaehwan had gotten himself into it, Daniel isn’t sure. As far as Daniel knew, Jaehwan hadn’t been that close with Daehwi, hadn’t been that close to much of anyone besides Minhyun and him. Something is telling him he never truly knew Jaehwan though, and that’s perhaps the most upsetting part of all this.

Seongwoo is the person Daniel trusts the most in the Agency, so he finally relinquishes the information Jonghyun had given him.

“The day Jaehwan went missing a man brush passed him a piece of paper in the hotel lobby, Jonghyun sent me some pictures from the security cameras of the man.” Daniel says, turning over and staring at the ceiling.

Seongwoo hums over the line, no doubt trying to figure out why Daehwi was so surprised by the pictures.

“Maybe he’s an associate of Donghyun’s and Daehwi hadn’t realized you were already onto them,” Seongwoo wonders, and Daniel shakes his head even if Seongwoo can’t see it.

“I don’t think so,” Daniel strays, “Daehwi was fine with letting me go to Donghyun, so this must be someone they didn’t want us to know about.”

“Daehwi acted like they’ll let you know, though,” Seongwoo continues, and Daniel can hear him typing something.

“Yes,” Daniel finally sits up and crosses the room to look through the files from Jaehwan. “But I think they didn’t want to do that originally, maybe we’ve fucked up their plan.”

“Why? Daehwi liked Jaehwan fine enough,” Seongwoo asks, getting right to the question that Daniel can’t get by. Daehwi and Jaehwan had been cordial, probably more if the way Daehwi acted meant anything, so why would Daehwi be so happily involved or associated with people who helped Jaehwan’s killers? Or at least had knowledge of them. Daehwi had recognized the man in the picture, and had told him to ask Donghyun, but he clearly knew. He clearly knew who the killers were, also, yet he was still pawning Daniel off on Kim Donghyun. Daehwi could just as easily call Donghyun and get the contacts of the killers, but he was making Daniel go do it instead.

Daniel is starting to get the impression that he’s being lead on a wild goose chase.

 

 

_##_

Kim Donghyun is already in the Agency’s database, was listed as a frequent associate of Daehwi. There isn’t really that much, Sungwoon had dealt with both of them once years ago and that’s it, but at least Daniel is more confident that Donghyun is real and probably not going to try and kill him.

Sungwoon had said in his report that Donghyun was a facilitator for Daehwi, was one of the contacts he had that provided Daehwi with most of his information and pull. Donghyun had apparently mentioned doing some freelance work without Daehwi, but for all intents and purposes he seemed to be working mainly with Daehwi. It’s easy to assume that maybe Donghyun really is just an influencer, and thus has contacts with a wide enough group that he can ask someone to ask someone else to get the killers information, Daniel’s worried though.

Before 11, Daniel goes for a jog and then naps, figuring he might as well be as ready as possible for the meeting. It’s not someplace public, it’s at a house a little south of Berlin. That’s the most worrying thing for Daniel, but Donghyun had insisted to Seongwoo that it was in the interest of protecting them both from prying eyes. Who Donghyun was implying, Daniel isn’t sure, but if it gets him closer to Jaehwan’s killers, then Daniel will take it.

Daniel takes a cab out to the residence, getting there a bit before 11. The lights are on, but Daniel doesn’t see anyone moving around inside, or outside of the house. He plans on walking around the house, getting a visual of it, but before he can make any progress the front door opens and a man sticks his head out.

“Kang Daniel?” He calls, eyes narrowed and searching in the dark. Daniel is in all black, he could probably get away with not answering, but he decides to risk not walking around the house.

Making his way to the house, Daniel shoves his hands in his coat pockets. He has a pocketknife in his right pocket, but it’s mainly there in case anything happened while he was outside. He nods at the man, who opens the door wider and gestures for Daniel to come in

He’s pretty, with light brown hair and a big nose, but still striking. There had been no photos in Donghyun’s files though, so Daniel isn’t sure this is him.

“You can leave your coat here, shoes too,” the man gestures at the coat hanger and a large pile of shoes by the door. It was enough shoes to make Daniel suspect that multiple people lived in the house, and he wonders where they all are.

“You’re...?” Daniel prompts, kicking his shoes off and draping his coat on the coat hanger, he pulls the photos out of the coat pocket though, tucking them under his arm.

“I’m Donghyun,” the other man says, shaking Daniel’s hand briefly. He leads Daniel further into a house, into a living room area. There’s two sofas with an end table in between them. Donghyun gestures at one of the sofas, so Daniel sits there. The other man crosses to sit across from him.

“Daehwi said you had pictures I was supposed to look at?” Donghyun leads, and Daniel appreciates they are just getting right to it. This Donghyun seems less willing to avoid questions than Daehwi had been, which automatically makes him seem better.

Sliding both pictures across the table, Daniel says, “I was told you could help me find who did this,” he taps the picture of Jaehwan, “and then I was supposed to ask you about the man in this picture.”

Donghyun looks at the picture of Jaehwan for awhile, and then says slowly, “I do know who would do this,” and Daniel sits up a bit straighter, knows Seongwoo is listening also.

“They’re not with any particular...” Donghyun pauses and tilts his head, “group, I suppose. They’re for hire.” And, oh. That complicates things slightly, means there is more that Daniel needs to investigate.

“It’s a very illusive couple of guys, they’re all from different companies,” Donghyun continues, leaning back into the couch he’s on. “I can’t give you much of a way to find them, but I can at least give you the names of the more frequent members.”

Donghyun gives him a list of names and a couple of numbers to call, but says they might not work out. Daniel still appreciates it, gives him something to do now.

“Oh, Daniel,” Donghyun says, setting the pen down and pushing the paper with names and numbers on it over to Daniel, “be careful with these numbers.”

“Of course,” Daniel says, but Donghyun looks at him disbelievingly.

“You don’t know who these guys are, but trust me, your company will.” Donghyun mutters, leaning back in his seat again. He shrugs a shoulder roughly and lowers his voice, “They don’t just take any job, your guy had to have had something that someone in your company didn’t like.”

Daniel narrows his eyes at Donghyun, “What do you mean by that?”

Donghyun frowns back at Daniel, “I mean exactly what I said, just be careful with how much you dig up.”

Daniel scowls down at the paper and shoves it in his pocket, then gestures towards the other photo on the table. “And what do you know about this guy?”

The hesitation before Donghyun answers makes Daniel wary, and Donghyun says, “Where did you get this?”

Just like with Daehwi before, Donghyun seems a bit unnerved by the photo, and Daniel just can’t figure out why. What is making them so reluctant to offer information?

“Why does it matter?” Daniel asks, and his voice is harder than he intends it to be, but it’s _annoying_ that they are refusing to just give him an answer.

Donghyun frowns, but says, “It doesn’t,” he hesitates again, his fingers tapping a knee.

“I’m not sure,” Donghyun finally says, and Daniel huffs.

“You’re not sure? Are you kidding me?” Daniel bursts, his hands waving around.

“Daniel,” Seongwoo says, soothingly, but Daniel is too incensed to really listen.

“I don’t know everything,” Donghyun says condescendingly, “I’ve already given you enough information in exchange for nothing, maybe it’s time you leave.”

Donghyun stands, and gestures for Daniel to stand also. Grabbing both the pictures, Daniel shoves them closer to Donghyun. “Stop lying, I know you and Daehwi know who this is,” he accuses, and Donghyun’s nostrils flare as he steps back away from Daniel.

“Kang Daniel, you don’t know anything,” Donghyun fumes, arms crossed over his chest. “Stop posturing and get out.”

“Why won’t you tell me who this is?” Daniel demands again, flapping the blurry photo of the man, and Donghyun stomps over to the door and grabs Daniel’s coat.

“Just get out, go find who killed your coworker with the information I’ve already given you.” Donghyun is holding Daniel’s coat out, and it’s so frustrating that Daniel can feel himself flushing red.

Daniel finally grabs his coat and steps into his shoes, and he’s just stepped outside when Donghyun sneers, “Good luck, _loverboy_ ,” and Daniel tenses, hard.

Seongwoo’s shout of “Daniel!” is drowned out by the adrenaline that floods Daniel as he turns and lunges back at Donghyun. Donghyun goes to slam the door, but Daniel has thrown himself so bodily that it just hits his shoulder and bounces to thud against the wall.

Stumbling on the shoes piled by the door, Donghyun throws an arm out to try and steady himself, but just ends up taking the coat rack down with him. It clatters loudly against the floor and Daniel stumbles over the shoes himself, but still manages to get his hands fisted in the front of Donghyun’s shirt.

Daniel has a tendency to react first and think later, this is hardly the first time he’s been goaded into violence. He’s not necessarily impulsive, but when his buttons are pushed right he strikes back, hard.

It’s not really Donghyun’s fault, Daniel has been operating near-breakdown for the last few days anyway, and Daehwi had rattled him enough to make him touchy. Donghyun had brought up a lot of frustration in Daniel, and then had poked his bruise with force. Of course Daniel would overreact, would lash out finally, redirect some of his general anger to someone.

Before Daniel can even do anything, a door from upstairs in the house slams hard enough to shake the walls, and a man appears from the stairwell. Donghyun shouts something, but Daniel can’t hear him, because the man is definitely the man from the photo. It shocks Daniel enough that he even drops his grip from Donghyun, turns to look fully at the man on the top of the stairwell. His hair is dyed a dark, maroon red, but there are darker patches of hair that suggests it wasn’t the greatest dye job. He has a vaguely lopsided jaw and pointy chin with a prominent nose. From the nose alone, Daniel knows this is the man in the photo.

His distraction is his downfall though, because while he isn’t looking, Donghyun hits him so hard his teeth rattle and his eyes roll back, slumping onto the floor.

He comes to shortly after, but its been long enough that Donghyun has his hands pinned and a third man has shown up to help. He tries to struggle, but Daniel is hopelessly outnumbered, Seongwoo has gone quiet in his ear, probably waiting to speak until it’s clear so they won’t notice his earpiece and pull it out. They do something, Daniel isn’t sure what, and the world goes back to being fuzzy and dark.

 

 

Daniel comes to again sometime later, he’s in the back of a cab and Seongwoo is typing loudly through the earpiece. He groans loud enough to alert both the cabbie and Seongwoo he’s awake, and Seongwoo’s typing stops abruptly. The cabbie says something in German, but Daniel is still too unfocused to make sense of his words fully.

“Daniel,” Seongwoo says, and Daniel grunts again.

“They didn’t know about your earpiece, I don’t know everything that happened but I have a recording, if you need it.” Seongwoo informs, and Daniel just slumps back against the carseat.

“OK, later.” Daniel mumbles, hoping Seongwoo was able to catch it.

 

 

_##_

_10 months ago_

 

Jobs frequently go awry. You can’t predict everything that will happen, or how everyone will react, so Daniel has learned to think on his feet. He always has a plan, yes, but most of the time he needs to improvise to keep the general plan going. There’s no point in exact, detailed plans, because anything can happen.

Currently, this club in Macau has erupted into absolute chaos.

Daniel was here to extract an agent, specifically to get Sungwoon out before he was compromised. There had been a string of agent compromises in recent months, enough to spook the higher ups into withdrawing their agents. Nearly everyone had been sent on vacation, though there were a few agents still a little too deeply embedded to just leave. Sungwoon had been working this particular mafia for about six months, and it had been agreed that they would fake kill him tonight. That way, there was still the chance of an opening later on when things have cooled.

It was supposed to be easy, Sungwoon would step out behind the bar and Daniel would not so secretly follow him. Then, he would ‘shoot’ Sungwoon and they would throw some fake blood at the wall and put the calling card for one of the other mafias in the city by it. It wasn’t particularly complicated, they didn’t need it to be.

However, the plan never goes through quite the way it’s supposed to. Daniel isn’t sure what he did, must have bumped someone wrong, but before he can get out the back door to where Sungwoon is a man shoves him hard and starts yelling. To make matters worse, the man’s friend then throws a punch at Daniel. Before long, the entire table is trying to have a go at Daniel.

This was one of the more disastrous ways a plan could go, really, and Daniel can’t even think of something to do to stop it. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel catches someone slip outside, he’s not entirely sure who, but someone had just gone out the door Daniel had been trying to reach. Daniel can taste blood in his mouth, from one of the many punches he had failed to dodge in his distraction, and his head is pounding.

Seconds later, he hears the telltale muffled _bang!_ of a gun, barely catches the sight of the men in Sungwoon’s booth in the corner all jump and hustle outside. He can’t focus on that right now, turns to kick one of the men cornering him against the bar and feels the way his shoe connects with someone’s shin.

He’s only really covering his face at this point, because he had been too distracted and too quickly overwhelmed to do much else besides block. Seongwoo is yelling at him in his ear, asking him what’s happening and telling him to get it together. Which is, unsurprisingly, one of the least helpful things that could be happening at the moment.

One of the men gets taken down by a vicious kick to the side of his knee, the bone makes a horrifying _pop_ and the man topples to the side, it’s enough to get the other men focused on the new person instead of Daniel, and when Daniel finally swings his gaze around he jumps, because that’s Jaehwan, Jaehwan is the one saving his ass.

It’s methodical watching Jaehwan fight, he is such a small man but he easily dodges and delivers debilitating throat punches and nose breaks, not hesitating to maim any of the men.

Once the men are laid out, Jaehwan breathing heavily and standing over them, Daniel, who is leaning agains the bar and trying to wipe blood from his face, says: “Jaehwan?”

The other man’s head jerks up to look at him, and this is confusing. That is definitely Jaehwan, and there is no reason for him to be in Macau, in fact Daniel would have thought Jaehwan would never step foot in Macau again. Not after what happened the last time he was here, but yet, here he is. Jaehwan puts a finger up to his lips then, and steps away.

Daniel watches, suspiciously, as a group stands from one of the darker parts of the club’s booths and a man curls an arm around Jaehwan’s waist and leads him away.

Later, Seongwoo asks, “Did you see Jaehwan?”

And Daniel says, “I’m not sure, I thought I did, but I might have been mistaken.”

(And even later, Sungwoon says, “I didn’t know Jaehwan was in Macau when you were.”

And Daniel says, “He was?”

“Yeah, he pulled off the plan while you were getting your ass kicked in the club,” Sungwoon laughs, and Daniel laughs awkwardly back.)

(And even, even later, Daniel says, “Do you remember that club in Macau?”

And Jaehwan stiffens considerably, “Yes,”

“Who were those people you were with?” Daniel decides to go with. Jaehwan takes a second, he’s washing the shampoo off his head and when he finishes he trades spots with Daniel. He waits again for Daniel to come out from under the spray.

“I was doing a job for Daehwi, it was supposed to be kept on the low though.”)

 

 

_##_

Daehwi calls Seongwoo at some point the day after Daniel’s outburst. He scolds Seongwoo and tells him he’s going to remember how Daniel acted towards his informers. He also says that Daniel should learn to be happy, that Jaehwan certainly wouldn’t like him trying to beat up his friends in the search of information. _“No matter how upset you are, Jaehwan would probably want you to not act like such a beast,”_ Seongwoo repeats to Daniel, and Daniel doesn’t even know why Seongwoo is telling him this. Probably because he’s mad Daniel reacted the way he did and possibly forever strained a reliable source for the whole company.

Besides, Daniel thinks it’s a low blow to keep bringing ‘what Jaehwan would want’ into things, thinks Daehwi is still trying to toy with him. He’s calmed down considerably since then, having gotten some real sleep and food in him before going back through Seongwoo’s recording. He also sends Seongwoo the names and numbers Donghyun had given him, and Seongwoo says he’ll handle this portion of the case. It gives Daniel some time, and he knows that’s Seongwoo’s purpose, but now Daniel isn’t sure what to do.

The recording had given him two names, Woojin and Youngmin, the man on the staircase was Woojin, he knows because Donghyun had angrily scolded him for showing himself. He has no last names though, but it’s better than nothing. Daehwi is influential enough that Daniel finally calls his only non-company provided resource, a friend of his from before the Agency, and asks him to ask around about Kim Donghyun and a Woojin and a Youngmin.

“What for?” Daehyun asks over the phone.

“Just trying to find out who Woojin is,” Daniel says back, letting himself relax a little. Daehyun isn’t massively big in the crime world, but he’s been around long enough and has such a wide range of contacts that he’s often Daniel’s last resort. He’s comfortable to talk to, but Daniel is reluctant to give too much away right now.

Daehyun hums, “Fine, you don’t need to tell me now,”

and Daniel huffs a laugh and mumbles, “Thanks, Daehyun. You’re the best.”

“I know, I’ll call you if I find anything,” Daehyun says before hanging up, and Daniel slumps into the couch.

Donghyun had implied that the Agency had taken Jaehwan out, which doesn’t make sense to Daniel. Jaehwan had been their best provocateur, had gotten them all the openings they ever needed.

But. It needles him. He remembers how Jaehwan was going off the grid. He remembers how Jaehwan had stopped sharing information with Jonghyun. He remembers how he had all his stuff shoved into the bathroom.

Daniel leaves his earpiece in the hotel room and steps onto the balcony. He doesn’t want Seongwoo to listen to this conversation, would rather he did it without worrying about it being put on a report somewhere.

His call takes awhile to connect, and Jonghyun sounds rushed when he says, “What,” into the line.

“Would Jaehwan have a reason to be afraid of the Agency?” Daniel asks, and hears silence from Jonghyun’s end. After a few seconds, he hears Jonghyun talking to someone away from the phone, and then a few doors opening and closing.

“Isn’t everyone afraid of the Agency?” Jonghyun asks back, and Daniel can’t believe it’s about to be another one of these conversations. Another game before he can get some answers. Of course.

“Are you and Minhyun hiding things I need to know?” Daniel demands, because he feels like he’s missing _something_.

“Don’t make such big jumps,” Jonghyun says calmly, soothingly, and he’s using his handler voice on Daniel. “What makes you think he was afraid of the Agency?”

Daniel sighs, scrubs a hand over his face, and then begins, “He was trying to hide things, he wasn’t staying in traceable contact, he was hiding his belongings like he didn’t want them to be easily visible.”

Jonghyun is quiet for a second, “But those things can be explained, can’t they?”

“I spoke with someone who knows the group who killed him, he said that the Agency would know the group, and that they don’t kill just anybody for anyone. He said I needed to be careful what I dug up.” Daniel says.

“Oh,” Jonghyun says simply, and then he’s quiet for awhile. “Maybe this would be a better conversation with Minhyun.”

“You were Jaehwan’s handler also,” Daniel protests, but Jonghyun cuts him off before he can get much further.

“I was Jaehwan’s handler _after_ they suspected Jaehwan of being a double agent and Minhyun of enabling him.”

That grinds Daniel’s brain to a halt, he barely chokes out a “what?” before Jonghyun is speaking again.

“I wasn’t supposed to tell you, sorry, Minhyun hadn’t wanted you to have that kind of view of Jaehwan, especially now that he’s dead, but if you mean what you say then we have bigger problems on our hands.”

Daniel stutters something unintelligible out, and Jonghyun huffs, “Daniel, breathe.”

Right. Yes, that’s something he should do. Daniel takes a few deep breaths, gets himself stable again. Jonghyun is talking to someone again, but it sounds like he’s covered the phone so Daniel can’t hear what they’re saying. He finally comes back, asking “Daniel, are you there?”

“Yeah,” Daniel says, dropping his head into one of his hands.

“I didn’t mean to drop this on you,” Jonghyun mutters, “We just thought that since they were sending an agent out to investigate then they must be just as bewildered.”

And that’s a good point. If the Agency had a hand in it, why would they send someone to investigate, or at least someone who wasn’t aware of their part in it.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Daniel says eventually, and he feels so, so tired.

“Did your informant tell you anything else?” Jonghyun questions.

“Not really, he wasn’t very forthcoming.” Daniel says.

Jonghyun sighs loudly over the line, “I think you should get in contact with Minhyun later, I can only help so much.”

Jonghyun had only been Jaehwan’s handler for a handful of months, and most of it had been with Jaehwan straying out of his reach, so there really is no other option. Daniel again, can’t help but feel like he never really knew Jaehwan.

After they hang up, Daniel goes back into the room and to the video call with Seongwoo. They usually have it open, even if they aren’t actively engaging with one another. Seongwoo glances at the laptop he does the video call on briefly when Daniel sits back in front of the computer, but doesn’t start a conversation. He’s muted his side of the line, and is on the phone. Daniel assumes he’s working through the numbers.

He’s at an impasse now. Seongwoo is his handler, the person he trusts the most, the person who definitely has his back, but he’s reluctant to share what he knows now. Seongwoo and Jaehwan had known each other even before Daniel had ever been contracted in, Seongwoo had been part of the Agency a year longer than Jaehwan and they had trained together. Seongwoo was never a field agent, he’d always been a handler, but he used to handle Jaehwan before Minhyun had gone out of commission a month before Jaehwan had been rotated into the agent lineup.

That kind of trust was lifelong, the trust between a handler and agent. Minhyun was still close with his handler, a man by the name of Dongho, and Jaehwan and Seongwoo were still close, even when Seongwoo was actively disapproving of the relationship between him and Daniel. It’s sad, that Seongwoo was so openly distrustful of Jaehwan, even if he cared for him. He was protective of Daniel, and Jaehwan was suspiciously eccentric. Of course Seongwoo would be overbearing and insensitive. Now that Jaehwan’s dead, well, Daniel is scared to further taint the image Seongwoo has of him.

He doesn’t want to let Seongwoo know that Jaehwan had been actively under suspicion of being a double agent while he was seeing Daniel. Everything Seongwoo had ever thought would be proven right then, or at least in Seongwoo’s head it would be. Daniel can’t deal with that, not really, can’t listen to the smugness that would no doubt enter Seongwoo’s tone.

Even he’s grappling with the idea of Jaehwan being a double agent. It would explain some things, the time he was in Macau, the leaking of identities around the time of Jaehwan going on vacation, the extended periods of no contact, and how he dealt with Jonghyun. But, Jaehwan hadn’t seemed like he had any feelings, ill or good, towards the Agency. Hadn’t even breathed a word to Daniel that could be interpreted as he was working against the Agency. It doesn’t make sense, Daniel and him had been _close_.

Forcing himself to stop thinking so much, Daniel squeezes his eyes shut and then sends a text to Minhyun asking him to call as soon as possible. He can be in control of himself, he just needs to detach. Needs to think of what he’s investigating _not_ as Jaehwan, the man he maybe-might-have-could-have-loved, but Kim Jaehwan the professional provocateur and assassin.

He can do that. He’s been trained to not dwell on lousy things like personal attachments.

 

 

_##_

It’s 3am when Daniel’s phone rings, he startles awake from his spot on the couch, glancing first at his dark computer screen and then around the room. He still has a couple of the lamps on, so it’s not too dark and he had thrown a blanket over himself. Seongwoo was probably sleeping, he has to operate in Daniel’s timezone, even if he’s back in Toronto.

Pushing himself up, Daniel answers his phone, groggily saying, “Hello?”

“Daniel, It’s me,” Minhyun says, and Daniel is instantly awake. His sleepiness is pushed right out.

“Jonghyun told me why you were moved off Jaehwan,” Daniel blurts, needs to get it out of the way as quick as possible.

“I know,” Minhyun replies, and he’s also using his handler voice on Daniel, but it’s OK. Daniel understands.

“I think you should submit the information you got about the group and go home,” Minhyun says.

“What?” Daniel sputters, thrown off now. “Why?”

“If what you’ve been told is correct, then you’re only going to get yourself into trouble still investigating,” Minhyun says rather mechanically, and Daniel can barely believe it.

“He was your friend,” Daniel seethes. “You’re just willing to let this happen?”

“What do you know?” Minhyun shoots back, “How much did Jaehwan ever tell you?”

That makes Daniel pause, makes him freeze for a second. Minhyun isn’t wrong, he’s correctly put his finger right on the pulse of what feeds Daniel’s insecurity and increasing frustration.

Filling in the silence, Minhyun continues harshly, “You think you knew him so well but you only saw him every couple of weeks, you only talked to him through text occasionally, what do you know about how he works? About what he did? You weren’t there for everything, Daniel.”

“I did know him,” Daniel defends rather childishly, his shoulders rising defensively. (He remembers Minhyun saying, “ _you know him_ ” before he had to go on this job, and the memory makes him more tense.)

Minhyun puffs an angry breath into the phone, “Why won’t you understand? You know where I am now, don’t let the Agency have a reason to fuck with you also.”

“Jonghyun said they moved you for helping him,” Daniel says, not sure where Minhyun is going.

“I couldn’t have covered for something I didn’t know was happening,” Minhyun spat. “Jaehwan was tricky and slippery and I couldn’t have stopped him from doing whatever he wanted.”

He doesn’t let Daniel interrupt, “The Agency had problems with Jaehwan because he was the prime suspect for the leaks happening, you don’t know how deep the leaks were but even the higher ups were getting compromised. Jaehwan had survived something he wasn’t supposed to, and then the leaks started happening. They were trying to punish him by replacing me.”

That makes too much sense. Makes Daniel feel rattled. No one has ever said any company was good, but it was easier to exist just blindly trusting the people giving you money. Jaehwan had never been intensely critical, but he had occasionally said things that showed he had some level of contempt for the people he worked for. After Minhyun got moved off him that had increased, but never had Daniel taken it to mean he was some kind of double agent.

“Why am I here, then? What do you mean he survived something he wasn’t supposed to? If they killed him, why send me? Was he really leaking information? Why didn’t you tell me?” Daniel bursts, he has too much happening in his head, too many questions to ask.

“I don’t know why they sent you, I’ve been trying to figure it out since I heard you were being put on the job.” Minhyun says, but then he rushes, “Maybe they are trying to scare you.”

“What? How?” That doesn’t make sense, he hasn’t even done anything besides what they’ve told him to do.

“You and Jaehwan were hardly as subtle as you both tried to delude yourselves into thinking,” Minhyun spills. “And Seongwoo reported that you were hanging out more with him, don’t you think they’d want to make sure their top agent wasn’t trying to do the same thing his boyfriend did?”

Wind hits the balcony door particularly hard, and Daniel swears the room is spinning. How is Minhyun always making sense? This can’t be right, but it seems to just _fit_.

Why else would Jaehwan refuse to share information. Why else would Jaehwan be so elusive to not only Daniel, but to Jonghyun also. Why else would Jaehwan be killed by a group that works almost exclusively for taking out in-company targets. Why else would Daehwi be reluctant to talk to him.

That Woojin had been with Donghyun, and Donghyun is with Daehwi. By everything demonstrated, Daehwi was closer with Jaehwan than Daniel had ever known. Maybe the brush pass was Daehwi trying to help Jaehwan. It doesn’t sound ridiculous, and no matter how much the company might have not trusted Daniel there was no reason for Daehwi to know that he was being suspected. To tell Daniel about Woojin would have to be like telling the Agency that they _knew_ what they had done.

Suddenly, everything seems to have fallen into place. Suddenly, the world looks a little more dangerous. He should have expected this, logically, because of course an espionage company would have no moral qualms with dispatching agents, suspected double agents at that, and then trying to demonstrate a point to other suspected conspirators. Minhyun was languishing in a smaller office with little to no work, and had to just watch as his agent was lost further and further. Daniel was sent on a wild goose chase to only realize he can’t do anything.

“Jaehwan was supposed to die in Macau,” Minhyun says after a long while of silence, and it jolts Daniel back to the present.

“What?” And Daniel is so tired of being confused, of being hit with news he barely understands.

“I’m sure you heard rumors of Macau,” and yes, Daniel had. Had heard that Jaehwan was sent to kill the head of burgeoning freelance counterintelligence agency that was growing out of Macau. He didn’t get a lot of the details, Jaehwan flat out refused to discuss it and Minhyun would snap at anyone prying into it. Sungwoon had mentioned things about Jaehwan being left for dead in a Macau waterway, but he managed to get himself washed onto a rock and was fished out of the water by a local.

It had happened a couple months before Daniel had been contracted in so he never saw any of the after of it, wouldn’t have even known about it if Sungwoon hadn’t bragged to Daniel about how amazing and strong Jaehwan was. It’s jarring now, to realize that that could have been the end of Jaehwan, was supposed to be the end of Jaehwan.

“He was supposed to die there, because he was getting to be too contrary to what the Agency wanted. He would purposely change plans, would purposely change targets sometimes. He talked back to the higher ups when he was in for reviews, or when they had brought him back to scold him.” Minhyun sounds almost pained relating this, like it’s hurting him to talk about.

“When he showed up in that Macau hospital alive, they made him pledge loyalty. They told him that only if he stops messing around than they will stop anything like that happening again. They had said he’s very good, but they could burn him at any moment.” Minhyun is openly disdainful now, and Daniel wants to vomit a little.

“But why keep him?” Daniel asks, surely they could have just burned him right then.

“He was good at his job,” Minhyun says plainly, like it’s that easy. Daniel supposes that it is that easy, Jaehwan really had been the best of the best.

“What do you think I should do?” Daniel finally asks timidly, head hanging and shoulders slumped. This isn’t something he can beat, not unless he wants to risk getting burned himself, and he doesn’t want Seongwoo to suffer because Daniel can’t keep his nose out of things. Minhyun is obviously banking on this, and Daniel can’t see anything else that could be true.

“Just close the case. Say you found the group responsible for the murder and head back home. They aren’t looking to hit back, they just want to know who did it. Or at least, that’s all they need,” Minhyun says, with all the confidence of a handler.

And that really is all he can do, the group were too scattered for Daniel to do much, and all he can do is try and go back to normal. Jaehwan had, inadvertently or not, put a target on Daniel’s back. By not digging he could perhaps get himself back in their good graces, maybe get them to keep him for awhile longer. Everyone dies in this industry, but Daniel always thought maybe he could escape it, could end up like Minhyun back in the office. He’s not so sure anymore, not sure where his future is leading.

“Daniel,” Minhyun cautions, and his voice is completely different now, “I don’t think Jaehwan is dead.”

“ _What?_ ” Daniel nearly shouts into his phone, and Minhyun just can’t stop throwing curveballs at him, can he?

“Wait, hear me out,” Minhyun exclaims. “I just think, it’s all too easy, I just think he’s better than getting killed by the Agency, he must have been planning something while in Berlin. I just don’t think he could be killed the way he was, I--I--I’m not trying to sound cliched but I’m so sure I’d know if he died, and I just don’t have that feeling.”

Daniel sighs, “Minhyun...”

“Don’t! Don’t _Minhyun_...me, Daniel. I know how it sounds. Just, you don’t have to believe me, but if later...just remember that I’m not entirely believing of this all.” Minhyun sounds more unhinged for this part than he had for the entire rest of their conversation, and it makes Daniel worry. Of course, he had also been thinking that maybe, just maybe it wasn’t true. But everything was pointing towards Jaehwan being dead. There was nothing that pointed to Jaehwan being alive. There was nothing that indicated anyone had helped Jaehwan. They had the group that had murdered him, for christsakes.

“I’m going to turn in my evidence tomorrow and come back to Toronto,” Daniel finally relents, moving on from Minhyun’s outburst, though it does take root in some small part of his brain.

“OK,” Minhyun says, but he’s still breathing heavily, “Don’t be a stranger after all of this, Daniel.” Daniel definitely won’t be. Minhyun and Jonghyun are the only connections Daniel has left to Jaehwan, he won’t be able to leave them behind.

 

 

_##_

_8 months ago_

 

The Agency has a real office building that work is done out of. It’s all carefully made up to look like a real company, the first few floors even dedicated to doing legitimate business. The top floors however, are all entirely dedicated to the crime business. It’s tightly controlled, so they have never had any real problems, and for the most part it works out.

All the agents and handlers have their own desks, handlers usually having their own offices and agents being put in cubicles on one of the mid-level floors. Post-job, unless you are being sent out a lot, generally each agent is supposed to come back and write up a report on their job. It’s more or less meant to encourage transparency (discourage going against the Agency) and make sure what the handler and agent are reporting are the same thing.

Daniel hates it. He does it, and his reports are never flagged for review, but he hates it. Before the Agency had contracted him he had been in a small company that only really worked in the western hemisphere, he had been one of five agents and hadn’t even had a handler. They didn’t require any reports, just asked that he got what he was told to do done. At some point, the Agency had noticed what Daniel was doing (being a damn good agent,) and had offered him a better contract with them. Of course he had taken it, even though he was saddled with harder jobs and more requirements.

Thus, it was 10pm on a Saturday and Daniel was cooped up at his desk typing up a report. Seongwoo had long since left, had said he was going to go enjoy his three days off and that Daniel was not allowed to contact him unless he had a life or death situation come up.

The Agency had a sizeable agent population, at least eleven or twelve, if not more. They had at least fifteen handlers, the extras meant to just provide help when needed. Daniel hadn’t seen anyone when he came in, most agents on jobs or just not here. In fact, the only person Daniel had seen was Seongwoo when he came downstairs and stopped by to say bye to Daniel.

He’s staring sadly at his keyboard when the door to the floor bangs open, Daniel lifts himself up a little to see over his cubicle wall.

Minhyun is holding Jaehwan’s ear and dragging him to his cubicle, which is not very close to Daniel’s pod of cubicles, and he’s muttering something but Daniel can’t catch it.

Minhyun dumps Jaehwan in his chair and snaps, “Behave and do your work.”

And then he turns and angrily pushes the elevator button. Jaehwan’s pod of cubicles is across the room from Daniel, and Jaehwan’s desk is angled so Daniel is looking at his back. The other agent is slumped in the chair, rubbing his ear. After another few seconds of the elevator dinging lightly, it finally opens and takes Minhyun off the floor.

It’s awkwardly silent for a bit, but then Jaehwan turns his chair and looks straight at Daniel. It makes Daniel yelp a little, and drop back into his chair. Jaehwan had definitely seen him though, and Daniel can hear him get up and walk back to Daniel’s corner of the office.

Poking his head over, Jaehwan smiles at Daniel. “Hey, I didn’t know you were still here.”

Daniel shrugs, “Still doing my report,” and Jaehwan’s smile turns up a few notches.

Jaehwan looks rumpled. His hair is a bit of a mess, it’s dyed back to black and it’s much fluffier than Daniel remembers it being. He hasn’t seen Jaehwan in about a month, but he supposes Jaehwan does need to change his appearance frequently.

“Wanna get out of here?” Jaehwan asks demurely, stretching an arm out along the cubicle wall.

“To do what?” Daniel tosses back, sliding his chair back a little.

“We could just go get drunk,” Jaehwan offers, and honestly, it sounds so much better than the report. Daniel hits save on his document and Jaehwan’s grin turns from friendly to something more dangerous.

 

 

He isn’t really sure how they had gotten to this point, the vodka had certainly gotten them someplace further than Daniel had anticipated.

They had ended up back at Daniel’s place, because Daniel had insisted in cooking something for them also. That had been a bit of a bust, Jaehwan had just turned off Daniel’s burners and asked where the takeout menus were after Daniel had burned the third thing he had tried to cook. It probably would have been awkward, but Jaehwan just has a way of making Daniel feel comfortable. The way he smiles indulgently and prompts Daniel in continuing makes him feel a little looser.

Now, they were both drunk, Jaehwan leaning heavily into Daniel on Daniel’s couch, head lolled back to rest on Daniel’s shoulder. Jaehwan has his phone to his ear, and Daniel has to admire Minhyun. He’s scolding Jaehwan, even though it’s nearing 2am and even though Jaehwan is obviously too far gone to really care. The volume is high enough and Minhyun is loud enough that his words are discernible to Daniel, and it’s funny almost. How overbearing Minhyun is, but Jaehwan doesn’t seem mad. He only seems fond, Daniel appreciates that a little.

Jaehwan is a good agent. Daniel admires him also, Jaehwan by far has the most hectic schedule of any of the other agents. It’s a surprise he even has these two days free, in fact, Daniel almost never sees Jaehwan at his cubicle. He’s always too busy, often just submits his reports while traveling to get to the next job. Minhyun is scolding Jaehwan about procrastinating, saying that he should be trying to make the company not have a reason to talk to them. Jaehwan is humming a little, to show he’s listening, but Daniel is pretty sure he isn’t.

When he angles his head down, to look at Jaehwan instead of just looking at the wall, he sees Jaehwan is looking at him.

It should be awkward, the way they’re staring at each other, the way Jaehwan’s eyes are roaming around Daniel’s face, focusing on his lips and then circling back around his features. Daniel can’t help but return the treatment, and he almost regrets it, can barely hold himself back. It has to be the alcohol, making him feel so loose, making him want to lean down, it has to be.

But it isn’t. Daniel’s been vaguely fixated on Jaehwan since Jaehwan had made himself comfy across from Daniel at that French cafe. He was a bit of a mystery, one of the agents who had been in the Agency the longest, and Sungwoon and Hyunbin were always telling Daniel tall tales about Jaehwan. Seongwoo gets annoyed when Daniel asks about Jaehwan too often, but he’s found out that Seongwoo had handled Jaehwan for a couple of months years ago, that they had entered the company close together.

His reputation precedes him, and it used to intimidate Daniel, that he was with such a prolific agent, but now he doesn’t quite feel that way. Daniel is just as good, just as utilized, although often times still only in the western hemisphere. He’s in the top ranks now, also, and it makes him feel more equal with Jaehwan.

Of course, Jaehwan is also personable and friendly enough that any other intimidation would have melted away. He always greets Daniel with a smile, and they click together well. The few jobs they’ve done together, only really two, had all gone well, and after they had hung out. Jaehwan is a bit ridiculous, a too big voice and cocky attitude that made him hard for others to deal with seemed to click so well with Daniel.

Jaehwan is also flirty, lingering touches on Daniel’s waist, shoulders, and arms used to make a slight blush rise to Daniel’s cheeks, and Jaehwan would always laugh at him. Now, he’s more used to it. Suggestive words and winks that used to fluster Daniel just give him an opening to give back as good as he gets. The last time Daniel had interacted with Jaehwan around others, Jihoon had stuck his tongue out at them and said “gross,” which had made Jaehwan grin harder than he ever had.

Abruptly hanging up on Minhyun, Jaehwan tosses his phone onto the loveseat adjacent to the couch. He sinks bonelessly into Daniel’s side, and he’s so light and small that Daniel feels something clench in his chest.

“Minhyun is just mad I walked in on him,” Jaehwan murmurs, and his eyes are on Daniel’s lips. It’s heady, the air feels thick and Daniel doesn’t even ask for clarification on what he means by he walked in on Minhyun.

The phone rings again from the loveseat, but Jaehwan ignores it. “I wish he would get some more friends,” Jaehwan says, and Daniel snorts.

“How? Our only friends are our handlers, probably the same for them.”

“That’s not true,” Jaehwan says quietly, and his eyes are back on Daniel’s lips.

“Oh yeah?” Daniel says, he taps his fingers to Jaehwan’s hipbone, his arm settled around his waist.

“Yeah,” Jaehwan breathes, “you have me, also.”

His lips quirk upwards then, and Daniel mimics the smile. This is nice, Daniel likes how easy this is. It’s been building towards this, with the way they talk to each other, the way they interact. Sungwoon’s snidely commented that they ought to just get a room already, and Daniel feels soft right now, like he doesn’t need to worry about tomorrow or today or the next week. It’s a bit intoxicating, the fuzziness from the alcohol seeming to worsen.

A different phone rings this time, this one coming from the jacket Jaehwan had tossed onto the back of the couch when he entered. The ringtone is different, deeper and less annoying. Jaehwan stiffens considerably though, immediately seeming to sober up and he pulls away. Daniel lets his hold on him drop, watches the other man dig out the phone.

“One second,” Jaehwan says, and his smile is deceptively easy-going, but Daniel can see the tension held in his shoulders.

Daniel slumps when the front door shuts softly, Jaehwan having answered the phone very quietly. Jaehwan is back quickly, but he’s grabbing the first phone from the love seat and shrugging his jacket on. He smiles apologetically down at Daniel, pushing his shoulder so he doesn’t get up.

“Sorry,” Jaehwan consoled, “I need to go, I’ll let myself out.”

Daniel doesn’t say anything, doesn’t know what he could say, and Jaehwan looks down at him with a look that Daniel can only think of as fondness. He runs a hand through Daniel’s hair and cups the back of his head with his hand and hesitates, but then he sighs and scratches his nails a little on Daniel’s scalp as he fists his hand there. After another second of them looking at each other, Jaehwan lets go and leaves.

Daniel blinks blankly at the wall of his apartment, trying to figure out what just happened.

 

 

_##_

Seongwoo had said, “Are you crazy?” when Daniel said that he was going to report this case closed. Daniel hadn’t had anyway to explain it, had said to just trust him. Seongwoo, reluctantly, allowed Daniel to do what he wanted and let him compile his files and resources and send them to the upper management.

He’s back in Jaehwan’s hotel room now, tasked with disposing of Jaehwan’s things. He’s not actually going to dispose of most of it. He’s already sent back Jaehwan’s files to his apartment in Toronto, and he’s definitely going to keep some of Jaehwan’s guns. After some contemplation, which was mainly Daniel crouched over the suitcase and fisting a shirt, he decides to take Jaehwan’s clothes also. The espionage gear gets trashed, they’re all connected to Jonghyun anyway and had been used already by Jaehwan.

It’s bittersweet, Daniel checking Jaehwan out of the hotel. He has the suitcase in one hand and the guns he had kept are holstered in Daniel’s holsters. He had stuffed Jaehwan’s phone in his pocket and had the laptop under his arm. He had already disposed of the other guns, stuffed them in a hallway trashcan, whoever finds them can deal with them. Daniel will probably be out of town then, anyway.

Daniel always travels light, so combining his clothing and Jaehwan’s is no trouble. The guns are a fine also, because the Agency uses private airports and no one is going to search him. Daniel stuffs both his laptop and Jaehwan’s in his suitcase, and then he knocks out for the rest of the time in Berlin. His flight is at 6pm, and he wakes himself up at 4 to head out to the airport. He’s done with Berlin. Done with dealing with everything. Done with being reminded more and more that Jaehwan had kept him in the dark for their entire relationship.

Trying to not let the realization sting is hard, Daniel can’t ever ask him why he did what he did, but he hopes it was noble. Like he wanted to protect Daniel from getting dragged into his mess, or like he wanted to not let Daniel be influenced by the suspicions towards Jaehwan.

Really, Jaehwan hadn’t been confirmed as a double agent. Minhyun had never said he actually did anything, but even the rumor could be damaging to an agent. Daniel can’t even say what he would have done if Jaehwan had told him, he was so into Jaehwan, had been so willing to overlook things for him. Would he have been so ready to look passed being a double agent? Or even the suspicion of being one? He’s not sure. He’ll never know now, but Daniel likes to think they had that kind of trust. Jaehwan had trusted him enough to let him have the code to his phone, the password to his laptop.

Daniel finds himself drinking hard on the flight, again. And he should know better, the hangover last time had only made his misery worse, but he needs the numbness. Doesn’t want to keep thinking so much. What is he even supposed to do now? Go back to normal? He isn’t even sure he knows what normal is.

Maybe he needs to let Seongwoo know that the Agency might be suspicious of him, that he should watch out in case Daniel walks into a trap. Daniel doesn’t think he could live with himself if Seongwoo gets stuck in a shitty office and dead-end job like Minhyun. Minhyun will never be able to be hired anywhere else in this field with the rumors that the Agency would spread about him. He’d be blacklisted in a second. Seongwoo doesn’t deserve that.

Jaehwan had been such an integral part of his life in the last seven months. He had always been a phone call away, a video call away, a text away. He could easily just show up at Jaehwan’s hotels and wait for him to come back. Now? Now he’s back to what? Just going to jobs and doing them and going home? It’s sad. Daniel hates that he has to go back to this routine. He, irrationally, starts to feel anger at Jaehwan. But he’s dead. What can he do?

It’s another few hours until he lands in Toronto, so Daniel decides to knock out again. He might ask for some time off, he deserves it.

**Author's Note:**

> unfinished so far


End file.
